Team Seaweed are hooked on Ancient + Brave’s amazing products. The quality and provenance of the coffee, cacao, collagen and MCT range is phenomenal. This company, and what it delivers, literally blew us away. Intermittent fasting can be a minefield and the Brave Method makes it a clear, easy and healthy choice. We not only use it for fasting – we love the coffee so much we have it daily at Seaweed HQ. Our kids love the cacao + collagen before bed which helps them get a good night’s sleep and the collagen alone has given us all long nails, strong hair and fabulous gut health. Research shows that regular intermittent fasts have endless mental and physical benefits aside from weight loss - from boosting metabolism, regulating blood pressure, reducing inflammation and upping your brain’s cognitive functions. Below is a by a step by step guide on how to intermittent fast followed by a Q&A with Annelie on questions we have asked in the past.

How Seaweed HQ follow the Brave Method: -

Finish dinner at 7pm on a Sunday (eat nothing until 11am Monday)

9pm Sunday Ancient + Brave Cacao + Collagen

9am Monday Ancient + Brave Coffee + Collagen, MCT oil and

optional organic butter

Eat sensibly from 11am and no food after 7pm

REPEAT – for 3 days

#seaweedsays always keep hydrated - we try to eat a rainbow diet with as little processed foods as possible.

We aim to work out 3 days a week, when fasting.

What is intermittent fasting? Q&A with Annelie Whitfield
Q

How and why can you use the Ancient + Brave method outside of the 8-hour eating window without disrupting the 16-hour fast? We have heard that even a slice of lemon in water will break the fast?

A

If you consume fat only — no protein or carbs — during your fast, you won’t interrupt autophagy and you’ll stay in the fat-burning state of ketosis. Fasting (like ketosis) works because it keeps insulin levels low enough to keep your body in a fat-burning state. Fats like butter and coconut oil don’t cause insulin levels to rise. Therefore you get all the benefits of fasting without going hungry. Our A + B blends do contain a little bit of protein from the collagen but not enough to really touch upon
insulin.

Q

You recommend the times 7pm – 11am to fast. What times do you have your coffee & MCT and butter in the morning and your cacao and in the evening?

A

I personally only drink the coffee + collagen in the morning, unless I’m really hungry in the evening. It’s best to fast straight through as all of our organs have their own circadian rhythms so to fully optimize the function of liver, gallbladder and pancreas it’s best to just fast from dinner for 12-14 hours and then have your morning A+B brew.

Q

What are the top three benefits that intermittent fasting has on the body?

A

Resets metabolic hormones like insulin, leptin and ghrelin

Increases mental clarity

Reduces harmful incidents of inflammation

Q

We have heard MCT oil can cause stomach pains – why is this and how can it be avoided?

A

Unlike the other fat and foods you eat, MCTs are digested much faster. They skip part of the process so they can quickly be put to use as energy and ketone creators. In can take some people longer to get used to them, but fortunately, we usually adapt to them quickly. On another note ensure that there are no C6 in your MCT oil as this can also irritate the stomach.

Things to consider when choosing your MCT oil are:

Choose a product that only uses the 2 most effective MCTs – Capric & Caprylic acid.

Your MCT oil should be processed without using any potentially harmful chemicals (green technology only)

The only ingredient on the label should be medium chain triglycerides.

Q

We like our coffee hot at Seaweed HQ – will this interfere with the performance of the collagen?

A

Absolutely (it's fine to have hot or cold) the collagen is not heat sensitive.

Q

Should you always use the butter (organic from cows fed on grass) or are there times when you should just have the MCT oil?

A

Both are great together in a coffee or hot chocolate – MCT oil on its own is very useful if you’re trying to keep your ketones high to potentiate fat burning or added into a salad dressing or thrown into a smoothie etc.

Q

Is there a benefit for children to have the cacao and collagen?

A

Sure – they have a hot chocolate with the added benefit of highly absorbable proteins and small amounts of adrenal nourishing Siberian ginseng.

Q

Is collagen good for gut health as well as skin, hair and nails?

A

Yes, it is. Because the amino acids in collagen build the tissue that lines the colon and GI tract, supplementing with collagen can help treat gastrointestinal symptoms and disorders, including leaky gut syndrome, IBS.

There are also a number of double-blind, placebo-controlled studies investigating the anti-ageing properties of collagen which have found that collagen hydrolysate can significantly improve skin elasticity, skin moisture, transepidermal water loss and strengthen both the hair follicles and nails.

Q

Team Seaweed aim to use the Brave Method 3 days a week – is this enough?

A

Yes! That will for sure be of great benefit to the brain + body.

To see how Seaweed HQ, make their coffee in the morning click here Seaweed POP TV